More liveable, sustainable and safe urban spaces thanks to new technologies that also enhance the rich cultural and artistic heritage. This is the Smart City model that emerged today in Milan during the event entitled "L’Italia delle città intelligenti e sostenibili. Gli strumenti digitali e attuativi al servizio della PA locale" (Italy of smart and sustainable cities. Digital and implementation tools for local government), organised by TIM Enterprise with ANCI to present the latest technological innovations and opportunities for urban and local contexts available to local government.
The event, which took place at the Palazzo delle Stelline, opened with a welcome from Antonella Galdi, Deputy Secretary General of ANCI, Giacomo Ghilardi, deputy Vice-Chairman of ANCI Lombardia, and Alessia Cappello, Councillor for Economic Development and Labour Policies of the Municipality of Milan, followed by a speech by Elio Schiavo, TIM’s Chief Enterprise and Innovative Solutions Officer, who illustrated the development prospects for Smart Cities in Italy, emphasising the Group's focus on this rapidly growing sector.
According to estimates by the TIM Study Centre, by 2027 investments in ICT solutions for smart cities will have grown to around 1.6 billion euros, while globally the total expenditure in Smart Cities will have reached over 1,000 billion dollars. In particular, between 2023 and 2027, Smart City applications based on 5G, IoT and Artificial Intelligence in Italy will help to reduce city traffic costs by a total of approximately 6.5 billion euros and those linked to urban pollution by over 400 million euros through improved planning of the public and private transport system and tourist flows. The new technologies will also allow an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of about 650 thousand tonnes, guide the tourism industry and optimise services for the public.
The event illustrated various use cases created by TIM Enterprise, the TIM Group business unit dedicated to companies and public administration, which is supporting the projects of numerous administrations with the TIM Urban Genius solution, a tool that allows policies to be adopted which reduce the environmental impact of city development, along the lines of those successfully implemented in several Italian municipalities, starting with Venice. The meeting focused in particular on the ongoing collaboration with the Municipality of Milan to analyse mobility and eco-sustainability with the development of predictive models, and the project for the management of tourist flows, applying the most modern paradigms of "City Science" with full respect for privacy, for the Municipality of Brescia, a city named, along with Bergamo, as the Capital of Culture 2023.
“Today, together with ANCI, we are inaugurating a series of meetings focused on the 'virtuous cases' of an increasing number of administrations that have understood the role of innovation in making cities more sustainable, safer and more liveable, thus improving the life of their inhabitants and tourists. We offer the practicality of the best technologies and skills needed to support Italian cities on their digital transformation path, as a contribution to the 'vision' of mayors and administrators. We are already working alongside numerous entities that have
chosen to become smart thanks to the innovative solutions that we create”, said Elio Schiavo, Chief Enterprise and Innovative Solutions Officer, TIM.
“The collaboration with TIM reflects the twofold conviction we have now reached, as a system of Municipalities, that there can be no real urban development without an integration between digital technologies and vertical service networks such as energy, mobility, waste and, at the same time, without a virtuous relationship with market players, which considers the merit of interventions and their design calibrated to individual territorial contexts. Occasions such as the Milan event are therefore intended to contribute to dialogue among the actors who, at different levels, have an interest in working on cities and making them evolve towards sustainable growth models", stated Antonella Galdi, Deputy Secretary General of ANCI.
“Milan has a clear vision for the future: to become an increasingly advanced Smart City. A fundamental objective for growth and international competitiveness, but above all to produce a positive impact on the social, economic and environmental dynamics of the city, influencing, directing and determining them to forge a sustainable, well-connected and inclusive Milan, a truly smart city with a human dimension". A process that Milan already set in motion some time ago, and which it will also pursue thanks to European funding, with projects aimed at mobility, the development of technological infrastructures and digital activities, with the redevelopment of old neighbourhoods in a sustainable way according to the 15-minute city concept. All of this is not only supported by a growing involvement and awareness of citizens but is also one of the aims of the work agreement we have signed with the city's stakeholders. Only through a solid and effective collaboration network can we create authentic value for Milan and its citizens”, remarked Alessia Cappello, Councillor for Economic Development and Labour Policies of the Municipality of Milan.
The event is the first of a series of local events which will take place in Bari (25 September), Naples, Catania and Padua (9, 20 and 30 November respectively), ending in Rome in December. The initiative aims to show how innovation for local government can accelerate the development of smart and sustainable cities and the achievement of the objectives of the NRRP, highlighting the impacts on the urban environment and on citizens' lives of decisions which are conducive to creating a Smart City and providing evaluation tools that allow public administrators to make effective decisions.
The other attendees included: Luca Gastaldi, Director, Digital Agenda Observatories, Polytechnic of Milan; Layla Pavone, Coordinator, Technical Innovation and Digital Transformation Board, Municipality of Milan; Andrea Piscopo, Manager, IT and Statistics Sector, Municipality of Brescia; and Francesco Foti, Specialised Department Manager, Programming Organisational Unit, Region of Lombardy.
Milan, 12 September 2023
